Drew Michael's one-man show is a poignant yet probably divisive performance that promises a unique experience but will leave its audience grappling with a combination of innovation and frustration. Entering the intimate venue, the presence of headphones on each seat heralds something out of the ordinary, and Michael's exploration of his hearing loss is certainly that.
A poignant yet probably divisive performance that promises a unique experience
The show starts with some material about a neurotic response to romance and waiting for a reply to a post-date text. So far, so OK. It’s entertaining enough but the risk of drifting into an hour of angsty-millennial-navel-gazing feels all too real. Things get a bit spikier with a segue into parent issues and unresolved anger, and it's from this tension and the arrival of a medical chart, showing a diagnosis of hearing impairment, that things take a more interesting turn.
The chart belongs to a younger Michael, a child facing a life-changing condition and not getting the support he requires to negotiate the condition in a healthy, progressive way. The rest of the show charts the legacy of that formative event, and the audience is invited to don headphones and experience life through his ears. This immersive experiment allows us to hear faint mumbling, random earworms, and Michael's inner monologue, creating an unsettling yet educational insight into his hearing loss. At moments, this experiment proves to be both enlightening and entertaining, forcing the crowd to live the hearing-impaired experience of being at a stand-up show, while being at a stand-up show.
Drew's strengths lie in his captivating storytelling, which is most effective when he sits and talks candidly to the audience. His experiences provide profound perspectives, filled with regrets, learning, and a shift from "grief to gratitude." The venue enhances this feeling of connection, and the comic successfully crafts a narrative which is compelling even if it isn’t always a comfortable ride – but that’s sort of the point. When you're straining to hear what's going on, while others (I suspect the hearing loss affected different sections of the audience at different times) are laughing at the jokes being told, you're getting a taste of a difficult experience lived by many people. Unlike them, however, you can end it by simply taking off your headphones. That's something to be grateful for.
Overall, Drew's Adventures is an ambitious show that oscillates between touching revelations and difficult introspection. Part spiky comedy experiment, part serious deafness confessional, it disconcerts, amuses, and offers both powerful glimpses into the resilient and relatable Drew Michael. More than that, it serves as a lesson to us all about how we should approach adversity, and perhaps more importantly, how we should approach others who are facing adversity.
